Southend vs. Burnley

Roots Hall in the Mind

The Clarets take on Southend at Roots Hall tonight desperate to win for the first time in 16 matches. The team will go into this match fresh after a break on Saturday due to the postponed Plymouth game. Southend however will have been buoyed by their Saturday result coming away with three points from their local derby at Ipswich. The Clarets seem to have had the knack recently of playing teams just as they hit a bit of form and even lowly Southend appear to have now jumped on that bandwagon. They will be eager to get out of the bottom three on the back of their away win and could see ourselves and Leeds in their next match as potentially easy targets. This could be a very difficult match for the Clarets and its important we get something from the game. A win at Roots Hall could be just the kick start we need to face Preston away in our next match on Saturday with some confidence.

Steve Cotterill Says:

"I think Southend are a good footballing team. We certainly won't underestimate going down there. We won't take any notice of the league table and we know it's a tough game,"

"If we can carry on like we have done for the last few weeks then there's no reason why we can't get a result. We are showing signs of definitely coming out of this run and hopefully we can continue."

Southend Team News:

Left-back Steven Hammell has been out for three weeks with a groin injury but looks set to return. Southend also have a new loan winger having signed Lloyd Sam from Charlton till season-end. He is likely to be on the bench. Richie Foran also returns after suspension but it is thought Southend will name the same starting eleven as per their last match against Ipswich

Player to watch: Freddy Eastwood

Always a threat and we will need to keep him tamed.

Burnley Team News:

Wayne Thomas is still recovering from knee cartilage surgery so wont feature in this match.

Alan Mahon still looks doubtful with a hamstring problem.

Kyle Lafferty however returns from a one-match ban after picking up five yellows and will probably be named on the bench.

It will be interesting to see if Harley continues to play just ahead of McCann again in a more attacking role

Player to watch: Ade Akinbiyi

Scored his first league goal for the Clarets in his second spell with the club against Palace in our last match. All Clarets fans will now hope Ade is back to form after some distinctly underpar performances since re-joining the club in January

Last Time We Met!

Southend to their credit came to the Turf last October having done their homework and deserved their away point in the 0-0 draw.

Match Prediction:

The Clarets are currently 18th with 41 points from 35 matches. Crucially they have two games in hand over most of the clubs below them and a far superior goal difference. Southend are currently second from bottom with 35 points from 37 games.
Although it wouldnt be a disaster if we lost,a win and an eight-nine point cushion over the bottom clubs would settle the jarred nerves of the Clarets fans.
This will not be an easy match but we have to win sometime and we could just steal this one based on current improvements in form.
Southend 0-1 Clarets

It should be an entertaining match but will probably be a bit nervy for both teams. I suspect the one who scores first will win this match. We have a truly awful April fixture list playing most of the top clubs although our two match advantage at least involves home games against Norwich and Plymouth. We also should be able to beat Luton at home on March 31st and we have to play Leeds away. I am hoping if we cant win tonight that those home matches are our nine points to safety aka 50 points

well i wouldnt mind you winning against luton, leeds would keep them below both of us. Southend is the team to watch i feel in the bottom three. they are the least predicatable... (unless you involve hull)

Hi All,
thedunedan has hit the nail on the head when saying we are the least predicatble I think..This is the post I recently did over at Vital Southend..............
I think that although they have been struggling big time recently that Burnley are out of the dog fight especially if they were to get a result tonight.Hit form?,well sort of we had a fantastic result against Ipswich where the players littraly died for the cause and got a point with 10 men again (12)including the referee with Leicester but before that we were beaten badly at Sunderland and in the last min:At Sheffield Wednesday.If we play like we know we can I think we should be ok tonight.I expect it to be the sort of game where you will hardly dare to watch.As I said before if we could pick a team to play at home at this moment it would be Burnley.Don't take it the wrong way but I am just going on form and because I think you will be safe as I expect you will only need a win and maybe a draw for safety you don't have as much to play for.I suspect you may feel differently.Cheers Ed Junior

Aye Ed, I echo those sentiments really, I dont actually think this is a 'must win game' for the Clarets but you will understand the longer this winless streak goes on, the more we might need to down some Prozac! I am a supporter of Steve Cotterill and want to see what he can do having had for the first time in ages money to spend and not having had to sell our key players in the Jan window! Typical, that we go on this awful run after that happens and the Board 'walk the talk' Already about 30% of the fans are calling for the manager's head. I think this is ridiculous, we have to see through this season, hopefully survive and build for 2007/8

Exactly ,agreed.I am certain you will survive and you must give your manager a chance.Next week when you win(pls not against us!!)it will settle down the nerves and get some confidence back in the players.Fans are fickle as we know so as soon as you are 100% safe the supporters will relax a bit and let the manager get on with his job.

Please note the Editorial comments and opinions on this site are the personal views of the Editor and should not be construed in any way to be representative of those of other Clarets organisations of which he belongs e.g. Clarets Trust. This applies to both the front page articles and posts in any of the forums.

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